Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) Shares Sold by Truist Financial Corp

Truist Financial Corp cut its stake in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 8.0% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 247,983 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 21,501 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $27,789,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in GPN. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in shares of Global Payments by 65.6% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,982,496 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $203,047,000 after acquiring an additional 785,539 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in shares of Global Payments by 1,559.6% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 548,833 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $61,502,000 after purchasing an additional 515,763 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its stake in shares of Global Payments by 22.7% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,646,854 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $271,090,000 after purchasing an additional 490,411 shares during the period. Soros Fund Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Global Payments in the third quarter valued at approximately $47,113,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Global Payments by 925.5% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 417,832 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $42,794,000 after purchasing an additional 377,087 shares during the period. 89.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Global Payments Stock Performance

Shares of Global Payments stock opened at $107.00 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $110.75 and its 200-day simple moving average is $108.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $27.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.15, a PEG ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 1.01. Global Payments Inc. has a 12 month low of $91.60 and a 12 month high of $140.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.93.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.98 by ($0.14). The firm had revenue of $2.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.31 billion. Global Payments had a net margin of 13.61% and a return on equity of 11.94%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Global Payments Inc. will post 11 earnings per share for the current year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.93%. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio is currently 18.83%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Global Payments

In related news, Director Robert H. B. Baldwin, Jr. purchased 5,800 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 13th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $116.00 per share, with a total value of $672,800.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 42,738 shares in the company, valued at $4,957,608. This trade represents a 15.70 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.98% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on GPN. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $143.00 to $130.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Global Payments from $135.00 to $125.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Global Payments from $138.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of Global Payments from $156.00 to $149.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Global Payments from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $134.33.

Global Payments Profile

Global Payments Inc provides payment technology and software solutions for card, check, and digital-based payments in the Americas, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific. It operates through two segments, Merchant Solutions and Issuer Solutions. The Merchant Solutions segment offers authorization, settlement and funding, customer support, chargeback resolution, terminal rental, sales and deployment, payment security, and consolidated billing and reporting services.